


Surrogate Son

by shewritesall



Series: Let the World Know [3]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers Family, Domestic Avengers, Irondad, Peter Parker & Shuri Friendship, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, spiderson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2019-01-15
Packaged: 2019-09-21 06:06:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 13,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17038142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shewritesall/pseuds/shewritesall
Summary: A short series of one-shots centred around Tony Stark and Peter Parker as Irondad and Spiderson.Similar to my 'Growing Up' series as well as 'No Lie' and 'You're What?', but not directly connected.  These one-shots don't have a specific theme other than Irondad and Spiderson adventures, although a lot of them will be college related or featuring one Morgan Stark.





	1. From Mister to Professor Stark (to Tony)

Peter would be lying if he said he didn't miss New York.  MIT was great and he was having an absolute blast dorming with Ned and being at his dream school, but he missed Mr. Stark.  As soon as he'd gotten accepted to MIT, May had transferred hospitals so she could live close by and see him every weekend and whenever he had free time during the week.  He saw her often enough he didn't miss her even if he saw her less than usual.

Mr. Stark, on the other hand, he only ever saw over long weekends when he had time to fly up to the Compound or during breaks.  He called him every night unless he was too busy with homework.  Even then, he called and would just work on his homework quietly with Mr. Stark still on the phone, asking questions every now and then to make sure Peter hadn't fallen asleep while working.  But that wasn't enough and Peter missed him more than he was willing to admit over the phone (he was not going to be responsible for Tony missing anymore meetings). 

"Are you done brooding yet?"  Ned asked.  Peter peered over the edge of their bunk bed to see Ned sitting at his desk, looking up at Peter expectantly. 

"No,"  Peter replied, swinging his legs over the bed and sitting up.  "Why?  Is it interrupting your homework?" 

"Yes,"  Ned deadpanned.  He closed his laptop and spun in his chair to look at Peter.  "Actually, I have to go meet up with Emily, Theo, Oliver, and Felicity to study and didn't want to leave you in a self-destructive state." 

"I'm not being self-destructive!"  Peter objected.  Ned shrugged and stood up, grabbing his backpack. 

"Not yet,"  he replied.  Peter rolled his eyes and laid back down on his bed, listening as Ned gathered his things.  "Promise not to go on a self-pity, self-destruction rampage while I'm gone?" 

"Let me consult the stars then get back to you,"  Peter retorted.  He stared up at the ceiling and heard Ned twist open the door. 

"You better be alive when I get back,"  Ned said, stepping out of the room. 

"You got it!"  Peter said, saluting him from his position on his bed.  Ned shut the door and Peter was left alone to brood about how much he missed New York. 

* * *

Peter hadn't started his week out very well by spending all Sunday missing Mr. Stark and feeling just generally upset.  His grouchy Sunday had led to a pretty bad Monday—worse than normal—and he spent the night at May's sobbing about the pop quiz in Advanced Coding 112.  Somehow May had figured out there was more behind his distress than just the pop quiz which is how he ended up telling her how much he missed Mr. Stark. 

Tuesday was better with the surprise of Mrs. Leeds homemade cookies arriving in the mail for him and Ned, but it was still a tough day.  Peter didn't cry his heart out that night at May's apartment, but he did spend longer than normal talking to Mr. Stark, coming up with various topics that had no relevance to their conversation just to keep talking to him.  Eventually, Mr. Stark had to leave and Peter was left with homework and his thoughts for the rest of the evening. 

Wednesday wasn't much better than Tuesday, but he did stumble across a flyer for a new class.  It would be held every Tuesday and Thursday evening from 6:30PM-8:30PM and would focus solely on running technology businesses.  It sounded interesting even if there wasn't much information other than which room it would be held in.  Peter figured he could use the class seeing as he'd probably take over Stark Industries one day, so he took the flyer with him and went to register for the class. 

When he came back to his dorm and showed Ned the flyer, he seemed less excited, but still happy for Peter. 

"It's weird they're just starting that now,"  Ned said.  Peter shrugged and set the flyer on his desk.  "It's been two months since school started, why's it just now beginning?" 

"I don't know, but I bet Mr. Stark will be happy I'm taking it,"  Peter told him, pulling out his phone to call Mr. Stark.  "It's perfect for running SI once I'm out, I just hope it isn't a large workload." 

* * *

Peter arrived to the class early the next day.  He wanted to meet the professor and since he had a free time before, he figured it was as good a time as any.  He left May's apartment at 5:45PM and arrived at the classroom at 6PM.  The lights were on inside but the room was empty.  He slowly opened the door and peered in.  His super-hearing picked up on footsteps from the adjoined office so he set his things down at a desk then walked to the office. 

He knocked on the door and heard a familiar voice call him in.  He opened the door and stopped short at the sight of Mr. Stark standing at the office desk sorting through some papers.  Mr. Stark looked up when he walked in and grinned at Peter. 

"I wondered if you'd come early,"  he said.  Peter blinked twice, looking around the office to figure out what was going on. 

"What are you doing here, Mr. Stark?"  he asked.  Mr. Stark rolled his eyes and stepped around his desk to approach Peter. 

"No 'hello, how are you, Mr. Stark' or 'wow, you're my new professor'?"  Mr. Stark teased.  Peter's eyes widened. 

"You're teach—you're the actual profes—don't you have to be certified to teach?"  Peter stuttered.  Mr. Stark's eyes narrowed at the last part. 

"I'm gonna let that last part go 'cause I know you're surprised,"  he said.  Peter just stared at him and Mr. Stark rolled his eyes again.  "Do I really have to ask for a hug this time?" 

"No!"  Peter blurted.  Mr. Stark had barely opened his arms before Peter was squished against him and hugging him tightly.  Mr. Stark wrapped an arm around Peter's back and the other went to the back of his head.  He smiled as Peter hugged him tightly. 

"I heard you missed me, kiddo,"  he said softly.  Peter nodded against Mr. Stark's chest, hugging him tighter but making sure not to hurt him. 

"How'd you know?"  he mumbled, voice muffled by Mr. Stark's chest. 

"May told me after your break down,"  Mr. Stark told him, carding his fingers through Peter's hair.  "You know, you could have just told me you wanted me to come down.  I wouldn't have hesitated to visit."

"I know,"  Peter said.  "That's why I didn't."  Mr. Stark frowned and pulled back to get a better view of Peter's face.  "I didn't want you to miss more meetings because of me.  Miss Potts would be upset." 

"She'd also be upset you're still calling her Miss Potts,"  Mr. Stark said.  Peter's face turned red and he buried his face in Mr. Stark's chest again.  Mr. Stark just sighed and rubbed his back.  "She was very willing to work with me and MIT so I could come out every other evening.  Now I'll see you all the time.  You'll get tired of me."

"Not possible,"  Peter told him.  Mr. Stark smiled and kissed his head.  "Thanks for coming out, Tony." 

"No problem, kiddo,"  he replied. 

 

 


	2. Best Big Brother in the World

Peter couldn't stop bouncing the entire flight back to New York.  It was Christmas break and he was finally going back to New York with May to spend the holiday with the Starks.  Mr. Stark had sent a private jet out to bring them and Ned back to New York knowing full well how excited Peter would be to get back.  Even if Ned was spending the holiday in Vermont with his family, he still flew up in the private jet so he could drive to his grandparents' house with his parents.

"Bye, Peter!"  Ned called, waving as he got in his parents' car.  Peter waved back then tumbled into the backseat of the car Happy had brought.  He was a little disappointed Mr. Stark hadn't come to pick them up, but he knew it was a busy time for Stark Industries.  Besides, he had almost an entire month to spend with Mr. Stark and his family. 

"Welcome back,"  Happy said, opening the door for May to get in then nodding at Peter. 

"Hey, Happy!"  Peter cheered, sliding into the car behind May.  Happy shut the door then got back in the driver's seat.  They were driving through New York traffic towards the Tower minutes later and Peter still hadn't stopped bouncing.

Happy and May caught up during the drive while Peter happily looked out the window and tapped his fingers on his leg.  He was the first to spot the Tower and loudly announced it, grinning at the giant tree on the plaza outside.  May smiled at him and didn't bother holding him back when he jumped out of the car and raced inside.  He left his suitcase in the trunk, but Happy grabbed it for him and he and May followed at a much slower pace. 

As soon as Peter had reached the penthouse floor, he raced out of the elevator and into the living room.  Just as the elevator doors had opened, a small head of dark curls had bounced up from behind the couch and Peter knew exactly who it was.  He hadn't wasted any time in diving onto the couch and attacking the four year old in playful tickling. 

"Petey!"  Morgan squealed, throwing her arms around Peter's neck.  Peter hugged her waist and got off the couch, spinning her around in circles as she shrieked happily. 

"Morgan!"  Peter yelled, spinning until even he was dizzy.  He collapsed on the couch with Morgan on top of him in a fit of giggles.

"I missed you,"  she declared, sitting up on his lap and facing him.

"I miss you too,"  he replied.

"I thought I heard a visitor,"  a voice said from behind him.  Peter craned his neck to see who was standing behind him and grinned at an upside down Pepper.  He gently shoved Morgan off his lap and stood up to hug Pepper tightly. 

"Hi, Pepper!"  he greeted happily.  Pepper kissed his cheek and pulled away, looking down at Morgan who was standing on the couch cushions.

"We missed you, didn't we, Morgan?"  she said, reaching forward to rub her daughter's cheek.  Morgan grinned wider and nodded enthusiastically.  She threw her arms around Peter's waist and looked up at Pepper.

"I missed him mostest!"  she announced.  Pepper smiled at her.

"I'm sure you did,"  she replied.  The elevator dinged again and Pepper disappeared to greet May and Happy while Peter and Morgan chatted in the living room.

Morgan told Peter all about her adventures at pre-school and how she was already top of her class.  This came as no surprise to Peter after how often she was in the lab with him and Tony.  Considering both Pepper and Tony Stark were her parents, he figured it would be more of a surprise if she had a normal amount of intelligence.  Both her parents were brilliant and powerful people so it only made sense Morgan would be too.

"Is there another kid in here?"  Tony asked, wandering into the living room an hour later.  Peter and Morgan jumped up to hug Tony and he nearly toppled over at the double collision.  He chuckled and put a hand on Morgan's curly dark hair and wrapped an arm around Peter's shoulders.

"Petey's back, Daddy!"  Morgan told him.  Tony grinned down at her then picked her up to be even with him and Peter.  He held her up with one arm and kept the other one around Peter.

"I see that,"  Tony replied.  He messed up Peter's hair and Peter swatted his hand away with smile.  "Did you tell him how he's the best big brother in the world?"

"He's always the bestest,"  Morgan told him.  Tony smiled and set Morgan on the ground.

"Then go get him the present you made him,"  he reminded her.  Morgan's eyes widened and she shot off to her room to grab her creation.  While she was gone, Tony turned to Peter and hugged him tightly.  "I'm glad you're home.  We missed you,"  he said.

"You saw me three days ago,"  Peter said.  Tony shrugged but kept Peter in a hug.

"Still missed you,"  he replied.  He let Peter go and glanced behind him where Morgan had disappeared to.  "You really are the best big brother in the world."

"Morgan's the best baby sister in the world,"  Peter said.  Tony smiled softly but before he could say anything else, they were interrupted by Morgan running back to them waving a picture.  She excitedly handed it to Peter who knelt down to her height.

"That's me, you, Daddy, and Mommy,"  she explained, pointing to each figure.  Peter smiled and picked her up in one arm.

"It's awesome,"  Peter told her.  He handed Tony the carefully drawn picture and told Morgan, "Dad will make sure it stays safe until I leave.  That way I don't lose it."

"Don't lose it, Daddy,"  Morgan said, narrowing her eyes at Tony.

"Wouldn't dream of it, sweetheart,"  he replied, rubbing her head and making her squirm in Peter's arms.  "Now scram.  Didn't you want Peter to help you wrap your presents for Christmas?"

"Yeah!"  Morgan cheered.  Peter smiled at Tony then headed down the hall towards Morgan's room, listening as she explained to him she'd gotten presents with Pepper but wanted him to help her wrap them since he made the best bows.  Peter didn't mind in the least.  If Morgan wanted him to make bows all break just so she could hang out with him, he was more than willing. 


	3. A Misjudgment in Knives

Perhaps Tony was a little panicked, but it was understandable.  Peter hadn't returned from patrol yet and he usually only took an hour and a half after school before coming to the lab until May called him home.  However, it had now been nearly two hours and according to FRIDAY, he was still in Queens patrolling.  FRIDAY said his vitals were fine, but he still decided to call and check in just in case FRIDAY was faulty (unlikely) or Peter had hacked the suit again.

"I'm fine, Mr. Stark,"  Peter promised.  "I just lost track of time.  I'll head over now.  Give me twenty minutes."

"What?  You stopping at McDonalds on the way?"  Tony teased, knowing full well Peter could get to the Tower in five minutes from where he was at.

"No,"  Peter replied snarkily.  "There's a mugging down the street and I'm going to stop it on my way."

"Alright, kiddo,"  Tony said, glancing up from his desk to see Peter watching the mugging below him.  "Go get the bad guys then come get pizza."

"You have pizza?"  Peter exclaimed.  Tony chuckled and nodded.

"But pizza's only for good superheroes who come to the Tower quickly,"  he replied.  Peter nodded and Tony heard the wind rush past him as he—hopefully didn't, but probably did—jumped from the building he'd been sitting on.

"You got it, Mr. Stark!"  Peter chirped.  Karen hung up and Peter dropped to the ground in front of the robber.  "Whoa, didn't you know robbing is bad?"

"Get lost, kid,"  the man snarled.  Peter frowned at the man then flinched when the woman who had been being mugged shrieked in his ear.  He spun around to see another mugger grabbing for her purse.

"You have a partner?"  Peter asked, webbing the purse out of the second guy's hands.  "That's so lame!  Who needs a partner to rob someone?"  He webbed the second guy to a pole nearby and turned to take care of the first one, only to receive a knife stabbed into his abdomen.

"Get a better suit,"  the man growled before disappearing.  Peter glanced down at the knife in his stomach and gingerly touched it.  Weren't knife wounds supposed to hurt?  He was pretty sure they were supposed to be painful.

"Oh my god!"  the woman yelled.  She pointed at Peter's abdomen as he ripped the knife from his stomach and suddenly felt the pain.   _Oh, so they do hurt,_ he thought to himself.  He cast the knife to the ground and put a hand on the wound to try and slow the bleeding.

"Are you okay, ma'am?"  he asked, forcing himself to stay upright even though he just wanted to collapse right there.

"You—You've been stabbed!"  she exclaimed.  Peter nodded, pressing on the stab wound and grimacing in pain.  "I'm going to get help!"

"No!"  Peter yelled, but she was already running off to the nearest pay phone. 

He grit his teeth together and shot a web over the wound.  That would hopefully hold it until he could get to Mr. Stark.  However, he couldn't just call a taxi to Stark Tower, so he'd have to swing there.

"Great,"  he muttered.  He pulled himself into the air, refusing to cry out in pain, and focused on getting to the Tower without passing out.  It was hard, but eventually he was scaling the Tower and climbing over the penthouse balcony.

FRIDAY let him in without question and he ripped off his mask so he could breath easier.  He knew Mr. Stark would likely be in the lab, so he started that direction.  He hadn't even made it to the stairs when Mr. Stark appeared in front of him with a grin.  As soon as he saw the webbing on Peter's stomach, though, he frowned.

"What happened?"  he asked, hurrying over to Peter and trying to inspect the wound.

"Oh, the mugging was a group effort,"  Peter told him, staring across the room and out a window.  "One dude tried to take this lady's purse, but I stopped him.  At least, I thought I had, but then another guy appeared and took her purse, so I stopped him."

"Yeah, I'm talking about the injury here, Underoos,"  Mr. Stark said, gesturing at his abdomen.  Peter glanced down at it, forgetting about it for the moments he'd been retelling the story.  How come it didn't hurt anymore?

"Oh,"  Peter replied.  "I got stabbed."

"You got—"  Mr. Stark cut himself off and stopped yelling, taking a deep breath before struggling to calmly ask, "You got stabbed?"

"Yeah,"  Peter nodded.  He picked at the webbing and said,  "But it doesn't hurt anymore.  Is that normal?"

"No, that's very un-normal,"  Mr. Stark told him.  He put his arm around Peter and guided him to the elevator.  "Let's go get you fixed up then you can tell me why you let yourself get stabbed."

"Okay,"  Peter replied, leaning against Mr. Stark as they stumbled to the elevator.  At least now he'd be spending all night with Mr. Stark.  He knew very well there was no way Mr. Stark would let him return to May bleeding and injured.  As much as Mr. Stark denied it, Peter knew May could be pretty scary when she was angry. 


	4. The Professor's Son

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've decided that in this one-shot, they will be related. Enjoy!

"What are you even talking about?"  Peter asked, walking beside Tony as they entered the main MIT building.  "How to tell lame jokes and blow up labs?"

"No,"  Tony replied, leading him towards the front desk.  "It's a lecture on advanced physics."

"Oh, so it has potential to be interesting,"  Peter said.  Tony rolled his eyes and walked to the front desk to sign in.  The woman in the office printed out a badge with his name on it as well as a visitor badge for Peter.  Apparently he wasn't important enough to have his name on it, but he didn't really care.  He'd probably just be in the back sketching out plans for his next project on the Stark-pad his dad had given him.

"Good luck, Mr. Stark,"  the woman smiled.  Tony nodded at her then turned to find the room he would be having his lecture in.  Peter followed close behind, looking around as they walked down the halls.

When they reached the room Tony would be lecturing in, Peter's eyes widened.  The room was massive.  The ceiling was about two stories high and a whiteboard took up two thirds of the space on the front wall.  A ladder could slide the entire length of the whiteboard and Peter had to resist the urge to climb to the top and start writing equations.  Maybe he could convince his dad to put a large whiteboard in his lab so Peter could write all over it.

"Like it?"  Tony asked, smirking at Peter.  Peter nodded and tore his eyes from the board to Tony.

"Can we put one in the lab?"  he asked.  Tony glanced at the board then shrugged.

"Sure,"  he agreed.  Peter grinned and Tony motioned towards the board.  "Have at it.  We have an hour until students should start arriving, but stay on the ladder."

"Deal,"  Peter said, scaling the ladder all the way to the top with an expo marker.  He immediately began writing out equations to solve while Tony got everything ready for his lecture.  It was almost exactly an hour later when the first few students arrived and stood in the back whispering.  Peter could hear everything they said, but ignored them as he finished the equation Tony had given him earlier.

"Welcome,"  Tony greeted, drawing the students' attention forward.  "Feel free to find a seat.  We'll start in about fifteen minutes once everyone gets here."

"You're really teaching this class?"  a student asked.  Tony nodded and nudged the ladder Peter was on.

"I really am teaching this class,"  he replied.  He looked up as Peter scribbled down his answer then looked down at Tony with a grin.  He was only standing on the second ladder rung as he'd used up all the other space for the two others equations he'd worked out.

"Done,"  he said happily.  Tony looked up at his work as he hoped off the ladder and replaced his expo marker with an eraser.

"Looks good, kid,"  Tony told him.  Peter beamed then scrambled to erase all his work before more kids arrived.  When he hopped off the ladder, there were about three dozen students talking to each other in the seats while Tony typed on his phone.

"Can I have my tablet?"  Peter asked.  Tony set down his phone and dug around in his bag for Peter's tablet.  He pulled it out and handed it to Peter along with a pen then finished his text.

"You want to sit in the office or stay in here?"  Tony asked.  Peter looked around the room and spotted an empty seat near the back that was pretty secluded.

"I'll stay in here,"  he said.  Tony nodded.

"Feel free to participate if you want,"  Tony told him.  Peter nodded and hurried up the middle row of stairs to the seat he'd spotted.  He settled down and unlocked his tablet.  He immediately pulled up his previous draft work and continued it while students continued to pile into the room until they were being turned away with how full the room was.  There were people standing in the back and by the walls and Peter was no longer alone, but he was so engrossed in his own work he didn't mind someone sitting next to him.

* * *

Tony's lecture was long.  Since it was a one night thing, it was scheduled to last three hours, but no one seemed to mind it was long.  The students asked so many questions it was nearing four hours when he officially let them out.  He'd kept an eye on Peter the whole time, but the kid was so enthralled by whatever he was working on with his tablet, he wasn't concerned.  He let the students come up and ask him questions afterwards as long as it was related to their topic and not just about his own personal life.

"Thanks so much, Mr. Stark,"  one boy said.  Tony nodded and waved at him as he left the classroom and another student stepped forward to ask him something.

Peter didn't mind waiting for his dad longer than expected.  MIT was a pretty cool place and he was busy working on his Stark-pad, so he didn't notice it was taking longer than normal.  However, he did notice when the boy next to him tried to swat the tablet out of his hands and onto the floor.  Peter managed not to drop it (it would have been fine even if it had fallen) and turned to look at the kid.

"What's up with you?"  he asked, raising an unimpressed eyebrow at Peter.  "Tony Stark not cool enough to hold your attention at a lecture?"

"No,"  Peter replied bluntly.  He was going to go back to his work, but the student wasn't having it.

"Why bother coming then, huh?"  he demanded.  "There were plenty of other kids that wanted to come and were turned away.  You should have just left and they could have come instead."  Peter ignored him and stood up from his seat.  He tried to step over the student beside him, but he wouldn't let Peter pass.

"Please let me through,"  Peter said.

"Oh, now you're going to leave?"  the boy taunted.  Peter just sighed and stepped over the row in front of him so he could leave.  He walked down to the front of the classroom and over to the desk where his dad had set all his stuff.  He stuffed his tablet in the bag and pulled his phone from his pocket to check for any notifications.  Suddenly, his phone was snatched from his hands and Peter looked up to see the same boy who'd been sitting by him.

"Please leave me alone,"  Peter said, snatching his phone back and shoving it in his pocket.  He'd respond to his mom's text after the boy had left.

"I just want to know who thinks they're too good for Tony Stark,"  the boy replied, crossing his arms and looking down at Peter who was barely shorter than him.  "So who are you, Mr. Perfect?"

"That's Peter,"  Tony said, stepping up behind the student.  The boy spun around wide-eyed to see Tony Stark standing behind him and frowning.  "Why are you bothering him?"

"He wasn't paying attention during you're lecture, Mr. Stark,"  the boy told him.  "Thought he was better than you."

"He is,"  Tony said casually.  The boy frowned and Peter fidgeted behind him.  "Get lost before I call campus security."  The boy grumbled about being kicked out but left.  Tony glared at him the entire time, only turning to face Peter once he'd disappeared.

"Good lecture,"  Peter told him.  Tony rolled his eyes.

"Apparently you didn't even listen,"  he replied.  Peter shrugged.  "You ready to go yet?  Has Mom bothered you about dinner?"

"Yes and yes,"  Peter said, pulling his phone out to respond to his mom.  "She says if we're not on the jet home in twenty minutes, we're having salad for dinner and nothing else."

"Then let's go catch a jet,"  Tony said, grabbing his bag and following Peter out of the lecture hall.


	5. Trio of Trouble for Thanksgiving

"Alright, Morgan, you have to see this one,"  Peter said, projecting yet another vine in front of him.  The lab was on lock down to prevent any unwanted entrances by Tony or Pepper if a vine happened to not be clean and Shuri had an alert set it any of the team left the living room.

"I've seen this one!"  Morgan whined, leaning back against Peter's chest.  Peter had one arm wrapped loosely around her waist as she sat on his lap with Shuri beside him, suggesting vines.

"No, you haven't,"  Shuri told her.  She pointed to the hologram.  "It's different."  Morgan huffed, doubting Shuri and expecting the Watermelon man to sing about Pantene and being clean.  Instead, she was greeted with a "watermelon Mercedes".

"How many are there?"  Morgan asked when he appeared again.  Peter just grinned and they watched the entire watermelon series in one sitting.

"Get it now?"  Shuri asked.  Morgan giggled and nodded as the last vine finished.  "Next time I say 'Y'all thought I had a watermelon instead'!"

"But I got a team of pumpkin heads!"  Morgan yelled, throwing her hands up happily.  Shuri gave a yell of approval and high-fived Morgan.

"Boss wants me to inform you that lunch is ready,"  FRIDAY announced.  The three stood up and hurried up the stairs before FRIDAY told them twice.  When they arrived upstairs, the entire team was gathered in the kitchen and the three could smell the food cooking.

"Ah, American holidays,"  Shuri said, taking a deep breath and sighing happily.  "Stupid, but delicious."

"You didn't have to come,"  Peter told her, glancing down at Morgan who shot off towards her dad.

"I know better than to skip out of Natasha's apple pie,"  Shuri said.  Peter rolled his eyes and joined Morgan between Tony and May.  He was home for Thanksgiving break from MIT and even if Shuri was one of his best friends, he was going to spend most of the time with eleven year old Morgan, Tony, and Pepper.

"You know the drill,"  Tony told them team.  Morgan was the first to get her food followed by Peter and Shuri.  The adults battled it out after that and eventually the table was full, making the rest of the team eat in the living room.  Tony and T'Challa managed to steal seats at the table to keep an eye on Peter, Shuri, and Morgan while the rest of the team went into the living room a few steps away.

"What did you do in the lab?"  T'Challa asked, taking a bite of mashed potatoes.  Shuri and Peter glanced at each other over Morgan's head and Tony narrowed his eyes at them.

"We watched educational videos on YouTube,"  Shuri said.  T'Challa pursed his lips and glanced at Morgan.

"How did you take down Captain America?"  he asked Morgan.  She lit up and didn't bother swallowing her food before answering.

"We shot him in the legs because he's an idiot and his shield is the size of a dinner plate,"  she said in a terrible Russian accent.  T'Challa gave Shuri a disappointed look and Tony had to take a moment to come to terms with the fact his daughter was going to grow up speaking the same language Shuri and Peter did no matter what he did.

"What's this about my shield?"  Steve asked from the living room.

"It's a vine,"  Shuri and Peter replied unanimously.  Steve nodded and tuned them back out.

"It's all clean vines, right?"  Tony asked.  Peter nodded quickly even though they had showed Morgan the 'yeet' vine as well as other iconic but unclean vines.  "She doesn't know 'yeet'?"

"No,"  Morgan, Peter, and Shuri replied.  Tony didn't look persuaded but he didn't push anymore.  If he didn't know, he wasn't responsible for when Pepper found out.

"Petey and Shuri would never show me bad things,"  Morgan told her dad seriously.

"Of course,"  Tony said.  "Why would I think otherwise?"

* * *

It was later that night when Peter and Shuri were showing Morgan more vines that they were outed.  They were in the middle of a compilation Shuri had made just for Morgan when Pepper walked in.  Unfortunately, they were in the middle of "whoever threw that paper" when she opened the door.

"Are you guys hungry for din—"

"—your mom's a hoe!"  the man on the vine said.  Peter, Shuri, and Morgan's eyes all shot upright simultaneously as Shuri failed to pause the vine in time.  They all looked up at Pepper who was staring at them in mild interest.

"That's the one I walked in on your showing her?"  she asked.  No one moved.  "Honestly, I've been trying to catch you on worse one's and that's the one I walk in on?"

"Wait, what?"  Peter asked.  Pepper just sighed and gave him a sharp look.

"Just promise me you haven't introduced her to the f-word yet,"  Pepper said.  Peter nodded quickly with wide eyes.

"I'd never do that!"  he exclaimed.  Pepper nodded.

"Good,"  she replied.  "Now, do you guys want dinner or not?"


	6. When You're the CEO's Apprentice but Don't Know What A Meeting Involves

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is similar to one of my other one-shots, but I really liked the idea, so here it is again varied a little. Hope you like Spideychelle!
> 
> Also, we're going to pretend Harry Osborn never turned evil and him and Peter and still really good friends.

Pepper walked into Peter's office to find him fast asleep on his couch, head on Michelle's stomach as she worked on her laptop set on his back.  One of Michelle's legs was bent and pressed into the couch by Peter's body while the other was stuck under his unconscious body.  She glanced up at Pepper when she heard the door open and ran a hand through Peter's mess of hair.

"How long has he been asleep?"  Pepper asked, looking at Peter.

"About an hour,"  Michelle replied.  She moved her laptop off Peter's back and onto the ground but kept it open so she wouldn't have to log back in after Pepper left.  "He was up late patrolling last night."

"I thought he'd stopped going out so often,"  Pepper frowned.  Michelle glanced down at Peter who was soundly snuggled against her.

"He did,"  she said.  "Just, when he can't sleep he goes out."

"Didn't Tony make something to help him sleep?"  Pepper asked.  Michelle shrugged and looked back up at her.

"Yeah, but his nightmares are worse when he uses them, so he doesn't,"  she told her.  Pepper pursed her lips and nodded.  She set a stack of papers on Peter's desk quietly then turned back to Michelle and Peter.

"Make sure he's awake enough for his meeting in an hour,"  she said.  Michelle nodded and promised she would, watching as Pepper left Peter's office.  Once Pepper was gone, Michelle poked Peter's side to wake him up.  He barely shifted and she frowned.  Great, she was going to have to wake him up from a good sleep which he rarely got anymore.

"Peter, wake up,"  she told him, poking him repeatedly.  He groaned and made a bad attempt at swatting her away before snuggling closer.  "No, you have a meeting in an hour.  You can't go to sleep."

"I wanna,"  he moaned.  Michelle ran her hand through his hair then slowly began to stand up.  He protested sleepily as she sat up and moved her legs off the edge of the couch.  He sat up as well and glared at the opposite wall as Michelle closed her laptop and stood up.  He stayed seated on the couch as he slowly woke up.

"You have to be in the car in half an hour,"  she told him.  Peter nodded groggily and watched as she walked out of his office.

It took him about ten minutes before he was awake enough to start gathering stuff for his meeting.  He was supposed to go to Oscorp and meet with Harry Osborn.  The idea was that it would be about business and how Stark Industries and Oscorp could improve their relations and work together, but Peter was fairly certain he and Harry would just talk about other things the whole time.  Now that Harry was in charge of Oscorp and Peter would be taking over SI in a year, they were trying to work together so the two companies weren't battling over investors.  Peter was pretty confident they could figure something out since he and Harry were friends and their companies were different enough the problem wasn't that they were fighting for sellers.

Peter knew Tony and Pepper probably wanted him to at least try and look like the meeting would be formal, so he took the elevator up to his floor and changed into a shirt that wasn't wrinkled.  He also grabbed a blazer then went back down to his office to grab his things.  He ran into Michelle on his way out of his office and grinned.

"Headed off to see Harry?"  she asked.  Peter nodded and kissed her shortly.  "Have fun."

"Will do,"  Peter promised.

She turned around to watch him walk off to the elevator and called out,  "Don't forget to actually talk about work."

"We'll see,"  he said, smiling as the elevator doors slowly closed.  She rolled her eyes and went into her own office across the hall from him and he began his descent to the garage where Happy was waiting for him.

The drive to Oscorp wasn't terribly long.  It took about twenty minutes with light traffic, so he was still thirteen minutes early for his meeting.  He told Happy he'd call him when they were done, but he'd probably just take an Oscorp limo.  Happy's face scrunched at the idea but Peter just rolled his eyes and sent him on his way.  It was hard for Happy to be okay with the idea of Oscorp and SI partnering together after years of not getting along, but Peter knew he'd come around eventually.

The interior of Oscorp was almost as amazing as the interior of Stark Industries.  Peter took a couple seconds to look around before walking over to the front desk to check in.  It was a quick process and once the receptionist had showed him where the elevator was and giving him instructions on finding Harry's office, he was on his way up the tall tower.

The elevator stopped a couple times on his way up to let other people on and off, but Peter didn't mind.  He would only be taking the public elevator up twenty floors.  When he got off on the 20th floor, he walked through the maze of offices until he found the desk that belonged to Sophia Hensel.

"Hello,"  Peter said, walking into her cubicle just enough he wasn't blocking the walkway.  "I'm Peter Parker; Michelle Jones sent me to give you this and say 'hello'."

"Michelle?  I haven't heard from her in a long time,"  Sophia said, grinning as she took the envelope from Peter.  "How is she?  Did she send you all the way here just for this?"

"She's good,"  Peter replied.  "And no, I'm on my way up to meet with Harry Osborn."

"Oh!"  Sophia exclaimed, eyes widening.  "That's right!  You're the Stark Industries heir!"  Peter smiled awkwardly and nodded.

"That's me,"  he said.

"Well, thanks,"  Sophia said, putting the envelope in her desk.  "Tell Michelle 'hi' and that she needs to come visit me herself sometime."

"I will,"  Peter promised.  He waved then headed back towards the elevator to go the rest of the way up to Harry's office.  He nearly ran into someone's on his way and burst into an apologetic mess.

"Don't worry 'bout it,"  the guy mumbled.  He looked up and his eyes widened.  Peter's did as well and they stared at each other for a few seconds.

"Flash?"  Peter asked, the first to recover from the shock.  The guy nodded and straightened his back.  "What are you doing here?"

"I work here,"  he said.  "You're not the only one with a fancy job."

"What division do you work in?"  Peter asked out of curiosity.  He wasn't aware Flash wanted to go into business, so he wanted to know what brought him to Oscorp.  Flash must have misunderstood his intentions because he rolled his eyes.

"Well I'm not the heir,"  he said rudely.  "I work in accounting, but not for long.  Mr. Osborn wants to promote me."

"Good for you, Flash,"  Peter said awkwardly.  Flash frowned and shoved past Peter to get to his desk.

"Can't wait to watch Stark Industries crash and burn when you take over,"  Flash called out behind him.  Peter took a deep breath then walked onto the elevator, pushing Flash out of his mind so he could focus on his meeting with Harry.

As soon as Peter walked into Harry's office, he relaxed.  Harry was playing with some sort of contraption on his desk and looked up when Peter walked in.  Both him and Peter grinned simultaneously at the sight of the other one and Peter tossed his bag on a nearby chair.

"Peter!"  Harry exclaimed, standing up to hug Peter.  Peter patted his back and they separated, still smiling.  "Long time, no see.  What happened to staying in touch?"

"Well, you know how it is running multi-billion dollar companies,"  Peter said, shrugging as he sat in a chair opposite Harry.

"I do,"  Harry agreed, nodding.  "I also know this meeting is supposed to be about partnering together, but that can wait, yeah?"

"Yeah,"  Peter chuckled.  Ignoring the real reason Peter had shown up, Harry and Peter talked all afternoon about everything from high school memories to holiday plans to their own lives at the moment.  By the time Oscorp was supposed to be closing for the evening, they were sprawled out on Harry's couch laughing about something that had happened in college.

"Dude, you should come over this weekend,"  Harry told him.  Peter tilted his head at the idea and Harry nodded.  "Bring Michelle if you want, I'd love to meet her."

"I'm sure you would,"  Peter smirked.  Harry rolled his eyes and kicked Peter.  "I'll see.  We might have an international meeting, but we'll definitely keep in touch now that we're both in charge."

"For sure,"  Harry agreed.  They talked for another hour before Karen informed Peter he was needed back at the Tower through the ear piece he was wearing.  Peter said goodbye to Harry and gathered his things, walking back down through the empty Oscorp building and out to the limo Harry had called down for him.  He rode back to the Tower in silence then hurried up to his suite to meet Michelle.

"Did you have fun?"  she asked as soon as he stepped off the elevator.

"Of course,"  Peter replied, setting his things down on the couch.

"And you talked about your partnership the whole time?"  she asked, looking at him pointedly from over her book.  Peter grinned sheepishly and felt his face heat up.  "God, you had one job,"  she chuckled.

"Hey!  I'm not even in charge yet,"  Peter reminded her.  "It can wait until then.  Besides, we hadn't talked in a long time."

"I know,"  she said nonchalantly.  "It's just that you have a lot of work piling up on your desk, but you won't keep blowing it off, right?"

"Right,"  Peter said resolutely, already thinking up the soonest he can meet up with Harry again to avoid doing all the paperwork.  If he was really going to be CEO, he was going to have to hire an assistant.


	7. Not A Father

Tony Stark was not a father.  Fathers were people that frowned when you weren’t perfect.  They always wanted you to do as good as them when you were only five and screamed when you accidentally knocked down a framed photo of Captain America.  Fathers were scary, mean, and gave you a bucket load of emotional baggage. So no, he was not a father.

However, he was going to Peter’s Parent Day at MIT.  He wasn’t sure if he’d even be allowed in since he wasn’t even a parent, but May had insisted he show up for Peter, so he had.  He wanted Peter to know he wasn’t going to be a father, though, because those were just a pain and definitely not what a college-aged, part-time superhero slash Avenger needed.

“Mr. Stark!”  a professor exclaimed, the perfect combination of shocked and prepared that made Tony just a little suspicious they’d known he was coming.

“Hello,”  he said, nodding shortly at the man and looking around for Peter (or May; he did have a preference, but that was only because he hadn’t seen Peter in a couple weeks and he wouldn’t kill Tony for being late).

“We’re so glad you could attend the open house today,”  the man said, falling into step beside Tony. “I’ve been assigned to show you around the new campus, so where would you like to go first?”

Tony was going to answer (not really), but his phone rang and he picked it up immediately.  He didn’t need to look at the caller ID to know it was Peter; the kid had made himself a special ringtone that consisted of Peter yelling ‘Hey, Mr. Stark!  Mr. Stark! It’s me, Mr. Stark!’ multiple times excitedly.

“Hey, kid,”  Tony said, smiling subconsciously as he looked around to spot Peter.  “Where are you?”

“I’m in my dorm getting something for my project, but May’s waiting in centre campus for you,”  Peter told him. Tony glanced in that direction and caught a brief glimpse of dark brown hair.

“I see her,”  Tony assured him.

“Good!”  Peter said happily.  He said something to Ned off the phone then returned to Tony.  “Me and Ned are supposed to set up our booth in the engineering building, room 213.  I’ll call you when we’re ready!”

“You do that,”  Tony said.

“Bye!”  Peter chirped.  He hung up and Tony pocketed his phone, making a mental note to change Peter’s ringtone just like every time he had to hear it go off in public.  He wasn’t ashamed of Peter, he would just appreciate something less annoying than Peter calling his name excitedly a bunch of times. He got enough calls that began with ‘Guess what, Mr. Stark?’ and ‘Hey, Mr. Stark!’, he felt like he didn’t need the ring tone to be the same thing.

“Thanks for the tour, but I’ve got it,”  Tony told the professor. He smiled and walked off in the direction he’d seen May, leaving the professor to his own devices while Tony went to find one May Parker and prepare for the parent day.

* * *

To no one’s surprise, Peter and Ned’s project for electrical engineering was impressive.  May had to drag Tony around to the other exhibits before they could go see Ned and Peter which turned out to be a good thing.  Once Tony had seen how amazing Ned and Peter had done on their project, he’d refused to move and insisted on standing beside Peter’s booth proudly.  May had a multitude of photos on her small camera of Peter and Ned standing in front of their project both with and without Tony. Because of Tony Stark’s presence, people visited Peter and Ned, asking all sorts of questions and only leaving when the crowd around Tony became too thick.

At the end of the day, Tony helped carry parts of the project back to Peter and Ned’s dorm room.  May got permission to go with them and sat on Peter’s bed while Peter showed Tony the blueprints for their project.  Ned just nodded excitedly, still starstruck by Tony and not wanting to mess anything up. Tony didn’t really mind; he was used to it.

“I think you deserve ice cream,”  Tony announced after hearing about all the hard work they’d put into their project.  “Get off campus. We’ll get some ice cream and cheese burgers to celebrate.”

“Really?”  Peter grinned.  Tony nodded, throwing an arm around Peter’s shoulders.

“Really,”  he nodded. He turned to Ned and raised an eyebrow.  “You in too, Ned?”

“You want me to come?”  Ned asked, barely breathing.  Peter elbowed him and he jumped.  “I mean, yeah, I’m in.”

“Good,”  Tony nodded, glancing at Peter then May and back to Ned.  “Let’s get going.”

Peter and Ned all but jogged out of the dorm ahead of May and Tony, chatting happily about anything and everything.  Tony walked behind them, not listening to their conversation as he was too caught up in his own thoughts. He didn’t even realise May was beside him until she nudged him, nodding at the two boys in front of them.

“Thanks for coming today,”  she told him. Tony tried to brush it off, saying it wasn’t that big of a deal, but she refused to be blown off.  “No, it is a big deal. He hasn’t had two parents attend an event since Ben died and I know he likes me to come, but it’s different when he has a father figure around.”

“No, I’m not his father figure,”  Tony immediately denied. May shrugged noncommittally.

“Say what you want, but I swear he has you as ‘Dad’ in his phone and he never shuts up about you,”  she said, grinning at Tony then jogging forward to catch up with Peter and Ned at the edge of the sidewalk.

No, Tony Stark wasn’t a father, but according to May and Peter, apparently he was (and could be) a dad.  Maybe there was a YouTube video that could teach him how to do that.


	8. No Babysitter Necessary

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Baby!Peter joins us in this adorable little one-shot!

"Peter!"  Tony yelled happily.  Peter jumped off the third stair from the bottom and into Tony's arms, giggling happily as Tony swung him up into the air.

"Daddy!"  Peter exclaimed, hugging Tony tightly and kissing his cheek sloppily.  Tony grinned and looked up from his four year old son to Pepper who was following Peter down the stairs.  She stopped at the bottom on the stairs and smiled at the both of them.

"You be good, okay, baby?"  she said, running a hand over Peter's curls in hopes of smoothing them down.  Peter nodded excitedly and reached out to hug Pepper from Tony's arms.

"I will, Mommy,"  he promised.  Tony pulled him back and moved so Pepper could get past him and into the elevator.

"Remember, he needs a nap after lunch,"  she told Tony, grabbing her bag and walking backwards into the elevator.  "He'll be fine in an office and should sleep through an entire lecture, but it he doesn't nap he'll be cranky.  I made sure there were plenty of snacks in his play bag, but you might want to grab a few of the apple slices I cut—"

"We'll be fine, Pepper,"  Tony assured her.  He glanced at Peter who looked at him with wide eyes.  "Tell Mommy I know what I'm doing."

"Daddy's smart!"  Peter told her.  Pepper rolled her eyes and hurried forward to kiss Tony.  "Mommy!"  Peter protested.  Pepper pulled away from Tony and kissed Peter's forehead.

"You know how to have JARVIS call me if something goes wrong, right?"  Pepper asked.  Peter nodded and tapped the watch Tony had made, complete with JARVIS in case Peter was ever in trouble.

"Pep, we'll be fine,"  Tony said, gently nudging her towards the elevator.  "Now go.  You're going to be late for your meeting."

"Alright, alright,"  Pepper said, hurrying towards the elevator.  She stepped inside and as the doors closed, she called out, "I love you two!"

"Love you too, Mommy,"  Peter yelled back.

"Love you too,"  Tony said at the exact same time, waving at Pepper as the doors closed and she disappeared from their sight.

* * *

Tony was glad MIT was so willing to make accommodations for him.  The first lecture hall they'd led him to didn't have a back office and after remembering what Pepper had said about Peter needing a nap, he asked for one with an office.  They'd taken him right to one that was not being used that day as the regular class wasn't meeting due to a week of field work the students were required to do for it.  He had about an hour to prep for his lecture by the time they'd found him a lecture hall with an office and finished telling him his schedule.

"Alright, buddy,"  Tony said, setting Peter down for the first time since they'd arrived at MIT.  He hadn't wanted to risk losing the small kid on the big campus, so he'd just carried Peter everywhere.  "You can play and explore all you want until people start showing up, but stay in this room, okay?"

"Okay!"  Peter grinned.  Tony turned and started unpacking his things while Peter walked around the lecture hall.

Peter explored the entire area then came back and pulled out a drawing pad to draw the room for Pepper.  He was in the middle of drawing the front of the room when the first few 

students began to show up.  As soon as Peter realised he and his dad were no longer alone, he scrambled to hide.  He ducked into the small space inside Tony’s podium, ditching his drawing pad where he’d been sitting earlier and looking up at his dad nervously.

“They’re just here to listen to me talk, buddy,”  Tony said, smiling and waving at the students. He glanced down at Peter who was still tucked up inside the podium.

“I want to stay here,”  Peter told him. Tony pursed his lips, trying to decide if that was a good idea or not.  It made it easy for him to keep an eye on Peter and he was pretty good at self entertainment.

“Alright,”  Tony agreed, grabbing Peter’s bag of things to play with.  He set it on the floor in front of the podium. “But you have to be quiet and you can’t bother me, okay?”

“Okay,”  Peter said, nodding eagerly.  Tony made sure Peter was all set inside the podium then left to greet the students for his first class.  Once he’d made sure everyone signed up had made it, he had JARVIS fire up his presentation and began his first lecture.

* * *

Peter stayed curled up in the podium all morning.  Tony glanced down and checked on him periodically throughout the lecture, trying to make it look like he was just turning pages instead of checking on someone curled up inside.  Tony had an hour break for lunch where he and Peter drove to TacoBell and got some food before returning. During Tony’s first lecture after lunch, Peter napped in the back office.  Tony checked on him between lectures and he seemed fast asleep still, so he decided to leave him be rather than wake him up for the last lecture.

Tony was about halfway through the hour and a half lecture when the office door slowly opened.  He didn’t notice it until it creaked and JARVIS alerted him to the movement. He paused for only a split second as he turned to check on the office, but stopped entirely when he saw a sleepy Peter rubbing his eyes in the doorway.

“You know what, take a five minute break,”  Tony told his class, trying to think up a way to take care of Peter without interrupting his entire class.  “Go to the bathroom, do whatever, just be back here in five minutes.”

Slowly, students stood up and left the room.  Tony only waited until the first few got up, encouraging the next few to follow them out, before turning and walking over to Peter who was still standing in the doorway.

“Daddy?”  Peter asked, looking up at Tony.  Tony picked him up, settling Peter on his hip and walking into the office.  He shut the door behind him then set Peter in the large chair seated behind a desk.

“Hey, buddy,”  Tony said. “Have a good nap?”  Peter nodded. “Well, I have to finish this last lecture, then we can go home.  Can you play in here for another hour or so?” Peter nodded again. “Awesome. I’ll bring in your play bag,”  Tony said. He got up and stepped outside the office to grab Peter’s bag of entertainment.

“Thank you,”  Peter mumbled, watching Tony set the bag on the ground.

“Be good, buddy,”  Tony said, reaching for the door to walk back out.  Peter reached out and grabbed hold of his pants leg.

“I want to stay with you,”  Peter said, looking up at Tony pleadingly.

“You can’t, kiddo,”  Tony told him, crouching down to gently pry Peter’s fingers off his pants leg.  “I have to go teach a boring lecture.”

“But I wanna be with you,”  Peter said, bouncing slightly as he began to pout.  Tony gave him a look, but Peter’s pout only intensified.

“You know you can’t give me that look,”  Tony said. Peter’s bottom lip began to tremble as he clung to Tony.

“Please, Daddy?”  he asked. “I’ll be really quiet.”

“Fine,”  Tony huffed.  Peter had always been able to get what he wanted from Tony when he looked so sad.  Pepper had warned Tony it was a problem, but he knew she had the same problem, so he figured it was alright.  “You have to sit in the podium like you did earlier though, okay?”

“Okay,”  Peter agreed.  He pulled his StarkPad from his play bag and scooted off the tall office chair.  Tony helped him hop down then led him out of the office and into the lecture room.  Peter went right to the podium and Tony followed, standing in front of it and resuming his lecture like he hadn’t just brought a four year old into the room.

After the lecture, Tony tried to kindly but quickly get the students to leave so he and Peter could leave.  When the last student had finally gone, he let Peter crawl out from under the podium. He packed up his things, listening to Peter happily talk about the book JARVIS had found for him to read.  He was in the middle telling Tony about a dream he had when the lecture hall door opened and a couple students walked back in.

Tony looked up at them, but Peter ignored them and continued talking.  Deciding to follow Peter’s example, Tony ignore the few students as they grabbed some things they’d left behind and finished packing up.  He pulled his bag over his shoulder then swung Peter up in the air, causing him to pause his story and erupt into giggles.

“Ready to go home and see Mommy?”  Tony asked, holding Peter above his head.

“Yeah!”  Peter squealed.  Tony smiled and carried Peter up the lecture hall stairs, stopping at the top when he ran into the three students that had returned for their things.

“Can I help you?”  he asked, not unkindly.

“We were just wondering who the kid was,”  one of the girls said shyly. Tony grinned at Peter who was looking at the three students blankly.

“This is Peter,”  Tony said, twisting so the students could see Peter better.  “He’s four years old.”

“Is he your son?”  another girl asked.  Tony nodded.

“Yep,”  he told her.  “And we’re headed home, so if you wouldn’t mind leaving, we’ll be on our way.”

“Oh right,”  the first girl said, scurrying towards the door.  “Sorry!”

“Don’t worry about it,”  Tony assured them, following the three out of the door and shutting it behind him.  Without giving the small group another thought, he carried Peter out of the halls of MIT and towards the car that waited to take them to Tony’s private jet so they could get back home.


	9. A Duo for Life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is a new thing I decided to try. Not sure how well it will turn out, but I hope you all enjoy it! It definitely doesn't follow canon MCU timeline as you'll see, so don't hate on me for that. This is practically an AU like all the other one-shots.
> 
> Also, this assumes the age gap between Shuri and T'Challa is about 10 years as I couldn't find an exact number.

_7 Years Old_

Shuri wasn't too sure she wanted to go to America.  Based on the very limited knowledge she had about it, it didn't seem like a place she'd enjoy.  She preferred the advanced sciences she was able to take in Wakanda and the technology she was allowed to fiddle with.  Going to America would mean she was missing out of extra days in the lab so her father could talk to one of America's smartest technology engineers.  So no, she wasn't exactly looking forward to going to New York for three days no matter how the movies portrayed it.

"Come on, Shuri,"  T'Challa said, tugging on her hand to get her off their jet.  Shuri skipped down the plank, looking over the edge of the tall skyscraper down at the small cars.  She grinned and was about to look out further, but T'Challa tugged on her hand again and she was forced to follow her parents into the building.

"Shuri, Mr. Stark has a son about your age you can play with while we talk with Mr. Stark," Ramonda, Shuri's mother, said.  Shuri nodded but wasn't too excited by the idea.  Other seven year olds were boring in her mind.  They just liked things like toy cars or dollies, but she much rather preferred engineering.

"Welcome, King T'Chaka and family,"  a voice overhead said.  Shuri's head snapped up to look for the voice, but she couldn't see anything.

"That's JARVIS."  Shuri looked forward to see a red-headed woman walking towards them with a smile.  Strange.  She didn't know people with red-hair really existed.  She'd almost thought they were a myth the Internet had made up.

"What is it?"  King T'Chaka asked, glancing back up at the ceiling briefly.

"He's the AI that runs the building,"  the woman said.  "Tony designed him.  If you'll follow me, I'll take you to him now."

Shuri let T'Challa guide her through the penthouse after their parents.  It was hard to refrain from asking a hundred questions about JARVIS, but she knew her parents wouldn't appreciate it.  If she was lucky, she could ask Mr. Stark how he made the AI then see if she could copy him.  It sounded fun.

The red-headed woman led them to a room that was void of people except for a dark haired man.  He seemed to be searching the room for something, but the room was empty save for a table, some chairs, and a cabinet.  Suddenly, he jumped forward and pulled a chair out from under the table.  Shuri's eyes widened as she realised there was a tiny boy curled up on it who erupted into giggles when the man grabbed him.  The woman opened the door and both man and boy turned to look at her with identical smiles.

"Mama!"  the little boy yelled, squirming out of the man's arms and racing over to see her.  Shuri watched as the red-headed woman easily picked up the boy and kissed his cheek before setting him back down.

"Hey, baby,"  she said.  "Mama and Daddy have to start a meeting, but there's a Princess here who might want to play with you."

Shuri's nose scrunched up but she didn't say anything.  She definitely did  _not_ want to play with the boy.  He looked as boring as someone could get.  She was willing to bet he played with teddy bears and Hot Wheels.

"But Mama..."  the little boy whined.  "I want to be with Daddy in the lab."

"Sorry, bud,"  the man said, ruffling the boy's curls.  "Maybe the Princess will join you."  He looked up from his son to Shuri's father.  "She likes engineering too, right?  I think I recall you saying that."

"Yes,"  King T'Chaka said, turning and smiling at Shuri.  Suddenly she didn't think this was such a bad idea.  "Shuri loves technology.  She would love to join Peter in the lab, I'm sure."

"Yeah!"  Shuri piped up immediately.  Peter—apparently that was the boy's name—grinned.

"I'm Peter,"  he said, sticking out a hand for her to shake.  "I'm seven years old and I like engineering."

"I'm Shuri,"  Shuri said, shaking his hand firmly just like her father had taught her.  "I'm seven too and I like engineering also."

"Wonderful!"  the man—Shuri assumed this was Mr. Stark—exclaimed.  "JARVIS, keep an eye on them.  Peter, don't do anything you're not allowed to, okay?"

"Okay, Daddy!"  Peter said happily.  He turned back to Shuri and she let go of her brother's hand.  "Come on, I'll show you to Daddy's lab.  It's really cool."

 

_17 Years Old_

Peter was pretty sure he was going to kill Shuri.  Not only had she called him via Kimoyo beads (yes, he had some.  He was one of the first to get them) in the middle of his chemistry class to wish him 'Happy Birthday', she'd actually shown up in the school cafeteria with her brother and started a loud chorus of 'Happy Birthday'.  Once it had finished, she'd proudly sat down beside Peter, saying a brief 'hello' to Ned, and began eating her peanut butter and Nutella sandwich.

"I swear, Shuri,"  Peter grumbled, swallowing his burrito irritably.  "If you don't leave right now, I'm not coming to Wakanda this weekend."

"Yeah, you are,"  Shuri grinned.  "You wanted to see my imitation sticky boots."

"I've changed my mind,"  Peter muttered.  Shuri just grinned and continued eating her sandwich.  Peter knew she was aware he wasn't serious, so he didn't even try to take back what he'd said.  He'd known Shuri for nearly ten years at this point (9 years and 312 days; Karen kept track for him), he knew she wouldn't be offended.  However, he was pretty sure he would kill her just because she'd decided a surprise visit to his school on his birthday was a good idea.


	10. Unlikely Chance

Tony was in the middle of a meeting when his watch vibrated, alerting him to an incoming call.  He glanced down to see Peter's grinning face looking up at him and smiled subconsciously.  As much as he wanted to answer, he knew Pepper would kill him if he walked out of this meeting (again), so he denied it.  He'd make sure to call Peter back just to make sure the kid wasn't too hurt by the rejection, but he knew as soon as he mentioned he'd been in a meeting, Peter would understand.

Seconds after he'd denied the call and returned his focus to the meeting, his watch buzzed again.  Frowning, he looked back down to see Peter's face grinning up at him once again.  He denied the call again and sent a quick message to say he couldn't talk right then, but he'd call him back when he could.  To Tony's relief, his watch did not buzz anymore.

"Boss?"  FRIDAY asked from the piece inside his ear.  "Karen is trying to connect Peter with me."

"Tell him to wait, I'm busy,"  Tony said quietly.  He received a few looks, but they quickly disappeared when Tony looked back.

"He says it's an emergency,"  FRIDAY replied.  Tony paused.  Peter emergencies could be anything from a lost puppy needing a vet to him bleeding out in an alley way, minutes from death.

"How big of an emergency?"  Tony asked.  This time he got a few more looks and the board member that had been talking paused briefly in the middle of their sentence.

"Karen has sent me his stats,"  FRIDAY said.  No longer caring about interrupting the meeting since he already had, he pulled up a holograph of Peter's stats from his watch.  He nearly forgot how to breath when he saw them and jumped out of his chair.

"I have to go,"  he told the board members before hurrying out of the room.  "FRIDAY, send him through."

"Connected,"  FRIDAY replied.

"Mr. Parker, what's going on?"  Tony demanded, activating the nanotech in his suit and shooting out of a window.  He'd fix it later.

"I have good news and bad news,"  Peter said, breathing heavily.  "Which do you want to hear first?"

"Good,"  Tony said, pulling up Peter's location and cursing when he saw it would take him nearly seven minutes to get to him.  What was the kid doing in Washington DC again?  Hadn't they talked about this?

"It is very unlikely I will  _ever_ do it again,"  Peter replied, groaning after his sentence.  Tony frowned and tried to speed up even though he was already going as fast as he could.

"And the bad news?"  Tony asked.  Peter didn't reply.  "Peter?  I swear to god, if you don't answer me, you're grounded for eternity."  Peter still didn't respond and Tony cursed again, louder and more aggressive, before asking FRIDAY to pull feed from Karen to find out what happened.

Apparently the kid had decided to take on some meth-addicts who were trying to make and sell drugs on the upper floor of an apartment building.  He'd been about to web the guy up when another guy had hit his head with a crowbar (seriously? How un-original).  In his distraction, the men had been able to destroy Peter's web shooters and throw him out the window from the 13th story.  Tony found him right where he'd landed: on the ground between two buildings.

"FRIDAY, scan,"  Tony demanded, dropping down and staring at Peter.

"Scan complete,"  FRIDAY announced.  "Peter Parker appears to have many broken ribs, a fracture on his right ankle, a break in his left tibia and femur, a severe concussion, a dislocated left shoulder, and a broken right arm."

"God, kid,"  Tony breathed.  After making sure Peter was unconscious, he picked him up gently and shot towards the Avengers Compound.  It was about twelve minutes away, but it had the better medical staff and there was no way Tony was risking Peter's life by getting him somewhere closer to save time.

When he arrived at the Compound, the medical staff were waiting and took Peter from him immediately.  He'd already begun to heal his ribs, so the doctors set to work on setting those first, then took him into the operating room to fix his ankle and leg.  Tony was forced to sit in the waiting room anxiously, trying not to focus on the fact that Peter was basically shattered and maybe, just maybe, if he'd picked up his phone earlier, the kid wouldn't be in such bad shape.

It took seven hours before Tony was allowed back to see Peter.  Apparently there had been internal bleeding the doctors had to fix before his leg, ankle, and shoulder.  The surgery had gone well, but Peter would not wake up for a long time.

"He needs to heal, and his body will refuse to let him wake up until he does so,"  the head doctor told Tony.  He nodded and quietly thanked him before taking the chair beside Peter.  He'd already called May, letting her know Peter was with him for the weekend.  He didn't want to tell her Peter had been injured because he wasn't sure if she could handle the severity of it, but he also knew she'd likely ban Peter from going out as Spider-Man.  Even Tony wasn't going to make Peter give up something he loved despite how much he wanted to.

"Hey, Pete,"  Tony said softly, settling down beside him.  Of course, Peter didn't respond, but Tony wasn't surprised.  Rather than just sit and stare at him helplessly, he pulled out his phone and tried to do what work her could while staying beside Peter.

* * *

Peter woke up to a massive headache and pain everywhere.  He barely had the energy to breath, but somehow he managed to groan at the pain.  To his surprise, he heard shuffling beside him and his eyes flew open.  The blurry sight of Mr. Stark made him smile lazily.

"'ay Misser S'ark,"  he slurred.  Mr. Stark gave him a small smile and gently ran his fingers through Peter's hair.  Boy did that feel nice.

"How you feel, champ?"  Mr. Stark asked.

"Kinna wanna die,"  Peter said.  Mr. Stark nodded, pursing his lips and he looked Peter over.  "Wha' happe'd?"

"You were thrown out a window by some methies,"  Mr. Stark explained.  Peter frowned, scrunching up his face as he tried to remember his last battle.

"Oh yeah,"  he said slowly, recalling the memory of the terrible smell followed by pain in his head.  "My head hurts."

"I bet it does,"  Mr. Stark agreed.  "You have a severe concussion among other things."

"Wha' other things?"  Peter asked.  Mr. Stark listed off his injuries and Peter nodded slowly.  It all made sense considering how much pain he was in.  He was almost surprised he wasn't still unconscious.

"So yeah, you're never doing that again,"  Mr. Stark told him.

"I won',"  Peter promised.  "Didja call Aun' May?"

"Yes,"  Mr. Stark replied.  "But I didn't tell her what happened.  I just told her we had a project we were working on, so you were going to stay for the rest of the week.  Good thing it's summer break, huh?"

"Yeah,"  Peter said.  His eyes were getting heavier by the minute and Mr. Stark was turning into a triplet, so Peter said, "I'mma go back to sleep."

"Alright, buddy,"  Mr. Stark said, watching Peter's eyes close.  "When you wake up, we'll talk about consequences."

"Okay,"  Peter said before drifting off into a dreamless sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by this post: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/62/23/35/6223359a65bea883083d8f609f692115.jpg


	11. Growing Up Sucks

Tony couldn't possibly be more excited than he was at the current moment.  Pepper could walk in and tell him she was pregnant, but he wouldn't be any happier.  He doubted it was physically possible for someone to be even the slightest bit happier than him at this very moment.  Not only had Peter been accepted to MIT, but he wanted Tony's help moving into his dorm room and getting to know the campus.  Pepper had already cancelled all his meetings, knowing there was no way she could expect Tony to say no.

"Now, I know you said you wanted to live in the dorm,"  Tony said, a few days later when Peter was helping him with his suit.

"Mr. Stark..."  Peter groaned.

"Hear me out!"  Tony interrupted.  "I only bought the apartment for when May visits or if you and Ned want to get off campus but can't come all the way up to New York."

"You didn't have to do that,"  Peter told him.  Tony rolled his eyes.

"I know, but I did,"  he replied.  "Besides, it's nice enough I won't feel like I'm in a prison cell when I come down to visit."

"You're gonna visit me?"  Peter asked, visibly perking up at the idea.

"Of course,"  Tony scoffed.  "Someone has to make sure Spider-Man isn't too reckless."  Peter just rolled his eyes and handed Tony a wrench.  Spider-Man was never reckless.

* * *

When the day came for Peter and Tony to visit MIT for a tour, Tony was awake at 7:30AM and bouncing around the kitchen as he made cereal.  It was a couple weeks before school started and he'd managed to pull some strings to get a tour earlier than orientation day.  He wanted to show Peter the campus himself, not some punk who thought they owned the school.  No, MIT was his college and he was going to be the one to show it off to Peter; no one else would get that privilege.

"You know the jet doesn't leave for another hour and a half, right?"  Pepper asked, half an hour later as she walked out of their bedroom.  Tony was on his tablet, working through some code for an upgrade on Peter's suit, but he still looked up at the sound of her footsteps.

"I know,"  Tony replied, leaning up to kiss her briefly.  "Just needed to get some stuff done first."

"Mhm,"  Pepper hummed, smirking as she walked into the kitchen to make herself breakfast.

An hour later, Tony was driving Peter, May, and himself to the tarmac where the Stark Industries private jet was waiting.  Peter wouldn't stop rambling about how he couldn't wait for college to start and all the plans he and Ned had for their dorm.  They had everything planned down to the T.  Tony had to stop himself from telling Peter all about his and Rhodey's room, not wanting to make it sound like today was about him reliving his days at MIT.  Today was for Peter and he'd listen to the kid talk about Star Trek posters and Star Wars Lego sets all day if that's what made him happy.

* * *

A couple weeks after Tony had taken Peter and May around MIT to see the campus in person, it was time to take Peter's things to his dorm and start the school year.  They managed to fit all of Peter's and Ned's stuff under the plane without any trouble, then Ned and his family joined him, Peter, and May for the flight down to MIT.

"Mr. Stark?"  Peter asked, setting one of his boxes on the desk he'd claimed as his own.  Ned and his family was bringing Ned's stuff up from downstairs while he and Tony brought up his own stuff.  May was busy arranging posters and other decorations around the room so the boys didn't leave it a total mess.  She'd come in two nights before and painted the room red and blue, but the room still smelled of paint even after having the windows open that whole time.

"Yeah?"  Tony replied, following Peter into the room with the last box.

"I think I left my laptop at the Tower,"  Peter said sheepishly.  Tony smiled and shook his head.

"I'll grab it tonight and fly it down once we get back to New York,"  Tony promised.

"Thanks,"  Peter replied.  Tony just messed with Peter's curls and opened one of the boxes they'd brought in.

"Might as well get unpacked while we wait for dinner,"  Tony said.  Peter nodded and quickly followed Tony's example of opening boxes and unpacking.  It took all afternoon to completely empty the boxes and get everything placed in just the right spot.  By the time they'd finished, it was time for dinner.

It wasn't until he was halfway through his meal that Tony realised he'd be returning to New York without Peter.  In a moment of horror, he stopped chewing and looked to his right where Peter was grinning, listening to something Ned was saying on the other side of the table.

"You good?"  May asked quietly, nudging Tony to bring him out of his trance.  He blinked rapidly and nodded.

"Perfect,"  Tony replied, shooting her a grin for good measure.  He returned to his food, but found it no longer tasted as good as it had before he'd had his realisation.

* * *

When the time came to say goodbye and return to New York, Tony refused to think anything.  He forced his mind to remain empty as he watched Ned's family say goodbye first, followed by May.  Tony stood out of the way, leaning against Peter's desk and watching the two boys silently.  After May had hugged Ned and Peter multiple times, he figured it was his turn to say goodbye.

"Don't have too much fun out here,"  he told them.  Peter rolled his eyes and hugged him.  "Remember: don't do anything I wouldn't do and definitely don't do anything I would do."

"How...?"  Ned trailed off, looking at Peter in confusion.  Peter just shook his head and stepped back.  Tony patted Ned's shoulder and smiled at him.  He wasn't close enough to the kid to hug him, but he figured it would be awkward if he didn't at least say goodbye to him.

"See ya later, Ned,"  he said.  Ned nodded, grinning widely.  "Keep Peter out of trouble, okay?"

"You got it, Mr. Stark,"  Ned said.  Tony smiled and glanced back at Peter again.  The stupid kid was fiddling with his sweatshirt sleeves like he always did when something was bothering him or he was upset.  Dang it, now he had to do something about that.

"Hey,"  Tony said, drawing Peter's attention to him.  Peter looked up and Tony noticed his eyes were a little glassy.  His own eyes began to get a little wetter than he wanted and his nose tingled.  "You'll be okay, Peter,"  he promised, drawing Peter back in for another hug.  Peter hugged him tighter than before and buried his face in Tony's shoulder.

"I'm okay,"  Peter said.  He didn't make any move to pull away, though, but Tony didn't want him to anyway.

"I know,"  Tony replied, blinking his own tears away.  "I'll be back tomorrow with your laptop.  May and I will come down every weekend and stay in that apartment I bought.  It's gonna be okay, kid."

"Okay,"  Peter said.  Slowly, he pulled away and sniffled.  "Bye, Mr. Stark."

"See you later, kid,"  Tony replied.  He turned away and walked out of the room, waving back at the boys as he shut the dorm door to follow May and the Leeds outside to the taxi.  He wiped a stray tear away as he hurried down the stairwell, promising himself everything would be okay even if Peter was no longer in New York.  Maybe he'd have to come down more often than just weekends.


End file.
